Goodness knows what prompted them to call themselves Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – a name that makes them sound like Dr and the Medics’ less funny cousins – because there’s nothing comedic about this Cambridge stoner/doom/psych quartet. They do nothing new, endlessly trying to pinpoint the moment in time at which the darker end of psychedelia toppled over into proto-metal – you’ve barely begun playing the album before the words “Black” and “Sabbath” enter your head. Although they occasionally overindulge – the eight minutes of Slow Death are aptly titled – for the most part The Night Creeper is taut and dynamic, because Uncle Acid don’t just think up a churning riff and run with it, the riffs serve songs with melodies that sometimes (as on the title track) verge on pretty. They won’t disappoint the doom fans, either – Pusher Man sounds like it was made to soundtrack a trip to infinity.